Chương 52: Chapter 53: Chocolate Ice Cream

"Nope, no idea, but is it more than what your freedom costs since I saved you?" Adam replied while giving his own smirk.

"Hehe, fair point, very well then. Hello viewers, it's a pleasure to be here, even more so since if I weren't, I would most likely be a prisoner of those pirates." Diva Lorelie replied before she showed a beautiful smile and addressed Adam's viewers. [Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Kyaaaa, I can't believe she greeted me.] [AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Us, she greeted us, crazy fan girl.] [[Mission Complete]] [[Reward: 5, 000 credits]]"Thank you, my quest just completed because of you."

"You're welcome." Diva Lorelie replied with a smirk.

"I will leave you to rest and remember that door there leads to a bathroom in case you wish to freshen up." After he finished speaking, Adam turned and left while ending the stream as Diva Lorelie gave him a curious look before she entered her room and closed the door behind her. 💫💫💫"Commander, I'm no longer picking up a distress signal." The comm officer of the Imperial Down reported.

"Sensors report." The commander ordered.

"I'm still detecting the Drard, sir; however, the three pirate vessels seem to have disappeared," Becky replied as she sat at her post working the sensors.

"Explain, Lieutenant."

"Shortly after identifying the ship sending the distress signal and passing the identity onto the captain, another ship appeared on sensors heading towards the Drard and the three pirate ships."

"Then the pirate ships began to disappear from sensors one after another until only the Drard and the unknown ship remained."

"Were they destroyed?" The commander asked.

"That's my going theory, sir; however, because of the distance, I can't give a definitive answer," Becky replied. As the commander was about to speak up again, the captain entered.

"ETA till intercept." She asked with a frown.

"Still over two hours out, ma'am." The pilot replied.

"Shit." The captain cursed.

"Is there a problem, Captain?" The commander who was second in command on the Imperial Down asked.

"I would say so, I have just been informed that the Drard was carrying Diva Lorelie to her performance on Terrana 5""What! Isn't she the main star for the imperial family's event?" The commander asked in surprise as Tessa showed a concerned look from her weapons station.

"That's exactly why it's a huge problem. We already have a bad reputation with the rest of the universe because of what happened with the Solarian princess in the past. How do you think the rest of the universe will react if a Diva gets captured or killed in our territory?" 💫💫💫 Adam sat in the mess hall eating some food while music by an artist he liked back on Earth played in the background.

As he ate and listened to the music, the mess hall's door slid open and Diva Lorelie stepped in before she froze for a moment listening intently. Adam watched with interest as she closed her eyes and bobbed her head slightly to the music. Eventually, she opened her green eyes that now had a strange glow about them before approaching Adam and asking, "Is it possible to get some food, please?"

"Of course, help yourself," Adam replied before pointing at the machine on the wall that dispensed food and drinks. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Diva Lorelie tilted her head before asking, "Is it some kind of food dispenser? I have never seen one quite like this one."

"Yes, simply tell it what you want and it will provide it for you," Adam explained.

"Anything? Most disposers I have seen have set menus."

"Yup. Is there anything in particular you would like?"

"I'm honestly not sure, maybe something that can help cheer me up." Diva Lorelie replied with a sad smile as she knew how foolish her request was.

"Then might I suggest chocolate ice cream?"

"Chocolate ice cream?"

"It's a type of desert; it's probably not the best idea to have it instead of a proper meal, however, it does wonders in helping you forget your troubles, even for a short time."

"I see." Diva Lorelie answered before she walked over to the machine and said, "Chocolate ice cream." The machine came to life, and a moment later, the hatch opened, revealing a large bowl of chocolate ice cream and a spoon. Diva Lorelie picked it up and marvelled at how cold the bowl felt before she went and sat opposite Adam. Adam watched as she carefully scooped up a bit of the ice cream before trying it, after which her eyes widened in surprise as a beautiful smile appeared on her face.

"Delicious." She said before she began to eat more.

"I'm glad you like it," Adam said before he went back to his own food.

"I'm curious about the music we're listening to. I have never heard anything like it, and the artist's voice is not familiar to me." Diva Lorelie said.

"It's music from my home planet, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it since it's not part of the universal senate or subspace network."

"How can that be?" Diva Lorelie asked in surprise.

"It's a long story, but the short of it is that my home planet is a long way from here and has yet to be discovered by the rest of the universe."

"Then how did you come to be here?" Diva Lorelie asked curiously. Adam smiled but didn't reply.

"My apologies, I meant no disrespect, I was only curious."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just not keen on talking about it. However, if you ever catch my stream, I'm sure my viewers will be happy to explain it to their idol." Adam replied before chuckling.

"Idol? I may be famous, but I'm no god to be worshipped." Diva Lorelie replied before laughing lightly.

"On my planet, idol is not only a term connected with worshipping a god but also a term used in the entertainment industry."

"Fans admire, love and revere their favourite idols and help them grow more famous by spreading their music and activities on social media."

"Ah, I see." Diva Lorelie replied in understanding before asking with a smirk, "Are you trying to get me to watch your stream so that you can increase your viewership numbers? I must say I was surprised you were a streamer, though. I have never heard of a streamer who IRL streams actual space battles. Normally, that is done in games like Space Rogue."

"I won't say no to an increase in viewership, but honestly, it was just a suggestion. As for playing Space Rogue, I also stream that sometimes, but mainly I focus on IRL streams." They were silent for a few moments before Diva Lorelie spoke up again.

"I would very much like to hear more of this music from your planet since I feel I can get a lot of inspiration from it."

"It's all accessible from the console in your room, so feel free; however, I'm afraid you have nowhere near enough time to listen to it all before you have to leave."

"Then I best not waste another moment." Diva Lorelie said before standing up.

"Thank you for the food and conversation." She said before she left the mess hall. After she left, Spector suddenly spoke up, "I have something you will want to see." After speaking, a holographic screen appeared before Adam showing the comm messages that the Gobli had sent. [[Message sent by Gract: The pirates failed to capture Lorelie after a Terran got involved and defeated them.]] [[Message received from Drotas: What happened? We refused the escort the Terrans offered us to make it easier for them. How can one Terran defeat so many pirates?]] [[Message sent by Gract: He has an impressive and from what I can tell very advanced ship that I am currently aboard, I recommend we hire some people to acquire it.]] [[Message received from Drotas: Understood, but the first priority is Lorelie? Our analysts have finished analysing her popularity, and like we suspected, she has started a downward spiral that will lead to her no longer being a Diva within 1 year. Because of this and the fact that we are still in contract with her, the best course of action is to eliminate her so that we can avoid paying any termination fees while claiming on the insurance payout we have that covers if anything tragic should happen to her.]] [[Message sent by Gract: Understood, I still think that we should eliminate her in the Terran Empire so that it also damages the Terran's reputation even more. With this, no non-Terran will want to sign with our rival company 'Royal Entertainment'.] [[Message received from Drotas: I will have someone on Terrana 5 contact you after your arrival. Don't mess it up this time, Gract, or it will be you that gets eliminated.]] [[End of Communication]]"Well, this is interesting." Adam mused as he sat back in his chair before asking, "Did Gract really send something like this without concern?"" Negative, he used an encryption program to encrypt the messages on his uniband before sending them via the console in his room. However, I was able to easily decrypt them."" I see," Adam replied before going into thought for a few minutes. Before suddenly asking, "Spector, is there something similar to a USB flash drive?"" Affirmative. While most people exchange data wirelessly between their unibands, there are data drives for more secure data that people don't want to transfer wirelessly."" Good then, here's what I want you to do."